Coupling



COUPLING Filed April 15, 1950 f Ft I A??? 6 f Fig.2

A omez s Patented Oct. 6, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COUPLINGNiels A. Christensen, South Euclid, Ohio Application April 15, 1950,Serial No. 156,216

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a coupling adapted to connect two rotatablemembers as, for instance, a driving motor and a suitable machine driventhereby. The object of the invention is to provide such coupling in anextremely simple form, which may be readily mounted on shafts of thedriving and driven member without displacing such members. Anotherobject is to provide such simple coupling in a form which willeffectively connect the driving and driven shafts, even though theshafts may not be in alignment. The invention is illustrated in thedrawings hereof and hereinafter more fully explained and its essentialnovel features are summarized in the claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my coupling connecting amotor shaft with a shaft of a machine to be driven; Fig. 2 is anenlarged elevation of the coupling shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a crosssection of the coupling in a plane indicated by the line 3--3 on Fig. 2;Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail through the coupling being a fragmentarylongitudinal section; Fig. 5 is an elevation of a modified form of mycoupling; Figs. 6 and '7 are transverse sections on the correspondinglynumbered lines on Fig. 5.

In Fig. l, A indicates any suitable driving member, as, for instance, amotor having a shaft a, and B indicates a driven member which, forinstance, might be a pump having a driving shaft b. My coupling providesa pair of sleeves l adapted to be mounted on the projecting shafts a.and b; a pair of forked heads 20 mounted in the open ends of thesleeves, and a connecting member 30 extending into the forked membersand con nected thereto by pins 3 l.

The sleeves I0 are clamped on the respective shafts by suitable setscrews I preferably of the Allen type. The forked heads 20 have reducedshanks 2| entering the sleeves l0 and clamped thereto by set screws l6,also preferably the Allen type.

The pins 3| which attach the connecting bar 30 to the two forked heads20 are shorter than the diameter of the heads 20 and thus terminate atopposite ends a suitable distance within the outer periphery of thehead. Each head has an annular groove 22 intersecting the end portionsof the diametric opening occupied by the pin 3|. In this annular grooveI place an elastic toroidal ring 40 which embraces the head 20 andextends across the ends of the pin 3! and thus retains it in place, asillustrated particularly in Fig. 4.

In the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 4, I have shown the connecting member 30as a fiat bar and two pins 3| as being parallel to each other. Such 2construction is suitable where the driving and driven shafts a and balign with each other. However, to couple two members where the shaftsdo not strictly align, I prefer to place the two pins pivoting theconnecting member to the forked heads at right angles to each other,thus giving the coupling the character of a universal joint.

The universal joint type of coupling is illustrated in Fig. 5, whereinthe sleeves Illa are shown as mounted, in the same manner as the sleevesI0, above described, on two shafts 11,-! and b-l, and the two heads 200.are mounted as before in the sleeves but have their forked openings atright angles to each other. In this case the connecting member ispreferably of cylindrical formation, as shown, as 35 and has at one enda tongue 36 and at the other end a tongue 31 at right angles to thetongue 36. A pin (indicated by the dotted line 38) passes through theshort dimension of the tongue 36 and a pin 39 passes through the shortdimension of the tongue 31, these two pins being at right angles to eachother. Each of the pins are held in place by an elastic toroidal ring40a of rubber-like material occupying a groove in the forked head asheretofore described.

By reason of the connecting pins 38 and 39 being at right angles to eachother the shafts a-l and b-l need not strictly align but are effectivelycoupled by the universal joint which my coupling provides.

It will be seen that by rolling back the toroidal ring 40 or 40a out ofthe annular groove in either of the forked heads the correspondingattaching pin becomes free and may be shoved out of the opening in thehead. This separates the coupling and enables the sleeves to be mountedon the shafts to be coupled without changing the position of themachines having such shafts.

In either embodiment of my invention, shown in the drawing, each of thetwo sleeves preferably has its cylindrical bore extending throughout thesleeve, and the reduced shank has the same diameter as the shaft onwhich the sleeve is mounted. This simplifies the assemblage as thesleeve may be mounted at either end embracing the shank of the forkedhead. If the shafts to be coupled are of the same diameter, as isfrequently the case, both sleeves may have their bores of the samediameter, enabling the entire coupling to be installed with either endtoward the driving member and driven member respectively.

The toroidal rings provide simple and effective means for holding thepivot pins in place. Should there be an occasion to disconnect thecoupling 3 without changing position of the driving or driven member ortheir shafts, this is readily effected by removing one of the rings(simply rolling it back on the exterior and the forked head) andknocking out the exposed pin thus disconnecting the connecting member.

I claim:

1. In a coupling, the combination of a pair of forked heads facing eachother and each provided with means for; securingdt to a: shaft,- aconnecting memberenteringthe forks in the two heads, pins mounted insaid heads and loosely passing through the heads and the member, annulargrooves in the exterior of the heads intersecting the openings occupiedby the pins and toroidal endless rubber-like rings in said grooves,eachring being stretched in its respectivergrooveaandhaw ing an innerdiameter when unstretched less than the inner diameter of the grooveacross the head.

to hold the pins in place.

at Ascompound :couplingxcomprising; 1apairs of sleeves adapted toibeemeuntedr on the: projecting endss-ofiia .pair:-ofTsha-fts,: a: painoffiorkedsheads each havingsar-shanktenteringthe other-end pore tionpfsa-id sleeves, means'for securingthe sleeves tocthe shaft,andthehead-shanks in. the sleeve, a bar entering: the: iorks of the twoheads; pins mounted: in the; heads: and; extending. loosely across; thebar andithe heads, there being an annnlar: groove. aboutthe peripheryof- .each head intersecting the; opening: occupied by the correspondingpin; andan. endless elastic toroidal ring in eaclr groove,- eachring-being: stretched in said grooveiandzhaving arr/inner diameterwhen-unstretchedless than: the. inner diameter of the BEwveaoross-the:heafiztoriheldthe pins-in place;

3. A compound coupling comprising a pair of sleeves having a boreextending from end to end and adapted to be mounted on projecting endsof a pair of shafts to be coupled, a pair of forked heads having reducedshanks entering the other ends of the sleeve, a pair of radial setscrews mounted in each sleeve and adapted to engage the shaft and theshank of the corresponding head respectively, a connecting bar extendingfrom one head to therother andr occupying the forked openingsthereoffdiametricpins carried by said heads and loosely passing throughthe bar and the corresponding heads, and annular grooves inleach headintersecting the corresponding pin opening, each groove formed toprovide an annular seat having a substantially semi-circular base, andanendless elastic toroidal ring of rubher-like material occupyin thegroove of each headxand extending across the ends of the correspondingpin, each ring being substantially circularin cross section. and beingstretched innsaid groove, and-havingan inner-ring diameter rwhenunstretched less than the.;in-ner diametenzofzthe groove-across the-headto hold the pins lit-place:

NIELS A CHRISTENSEMN References Cited in the file. of thisflpatent,

UNITED STATES PATENTS;

